


if you say so

by xxprincessxx



Series: rini songfic collection [1]
Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: F/M, Sad, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-23 00:47:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23003056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xxprincessxx/pseuds/xxprincessxx
Summary: where Nini receives the worst news she could possibly get(inspired by lea michele's if you say so)
Relationships: Big Red & Nini Salazar-Roberts, Ricky Bowen/Nini Salazar-Roberts
Series: rini songfic collection [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1687843
Comments: 15
Kudos: 72





	if you say so

**Author's Note:**

> this one was heavily inspired by Lea Michele's song that she wrote shortly after Cory Monteith's death. i tried incredibly hard not to write this one, but the song kept playing over and over in my head and i gave in.

It’s been one week, seven days, 168 hours, since she got the phone call that was going to change her life forever. It was a gloomy Friday in Salt Lake, and all she wanted was to lounge around and do nothing all day. Her phone's ring tone echoed throughout the house filling the silence that was once there, it rang, not once, not twice, but three times, not having the energy to move to pick it up the first two times. When she finally picked it up, realizing that it was important enough to call three times, she saw the caller ID, confused as to why he would be calling her, she picked it up on the third ring.

The message that the caller relayed was not one she was expecting, she dropped her phone in shock and disbelief, not wanting to move feeling as if she was paralyzed, she hears it clatter to the floor but couldn’t manage to care enough to pick it up. She felt her emotions bottling up inside her, not wanting the message to be true - it couldn't be. She backed up, far away from the phone, until she feels her back hit the wall. Her body hitting that wall was like a shock back to reality, reminding her that this isn’t a dream, this isn’t some fabricated lie, that this is real, it’s true, and there’s nothing she can do about it. She slides down the wall, letting her emotions take a toll on her, drowning in her tears and sobs. She covers her mouth trying to muffle the sobs, the sound of herself making the pain even more unbearable.

_“He’s dead Nini, a hit and run.”_

She didn’t, no, couldn’t believe what the man on the phone had whispered to her. The love of her life, her best friend, the man she was one day going to marry – he’s gone. She lets her emotions consume her, not sure what to do with herself. She looked down to her hand, the promise ring he had given her in their senior year of high school was graced upon her finger. He promised her that one day, when they were ready, he was going to replace it with a real engagement ring, one that she deserves. She twirled the ring around her finger, all her thoughts raced with the memories of them together, she was then reminded that she’d no longer be able to hold him, talk to him, make more memories with him, and grow old with him. She sobbed and sobbed and sobbed, just crying everything out until her tears ran out, but they never did.

She was curled up against the wall hugging her knees, tears rolling down her cheeks, toying with the ring on her nimble finger. That’s how Big Red found her. He pulled the girl into his chest once he found her, causing a new set of tears to stream down her cheeks. She assumed Mike called him next, being both the boy’s best friend and the one he knew his son would want to take care of Nini in his absence.

Just the night before she was talking to him, just after he had gotten home from her place. They talked liked they haven’t seen each other in days, but in reality, was only a few minutes. They spoke until they both started yawning, talking in sleepy voices, trying to fight the sleep from taking over them. With much reluctance, he bids her good night, “I love you,” he whispers into the phone. She smiles into the phone, “I love you more.” And she hears him take a breath, he pauses, like this was going to be the last conversation they were going to have – little did they know, that it would be. He tells her, “If you say so,” she couldn’t but smile even if couldn’t see her, and with those last four words, they hang up the phone, letting their last thoughts that night be filled of each other.

As the week passed, she barely leaves her home, her friends and others she didn’t know too well, stopped by and called her, offering their condolences. She barely managed a smile, not sure how to live her life without him. The last four words he said to her were stuck in her head, unable to sleep at night, scared to wake up the next morning for all the pain to wash over her once again. Every night, she sits with her lamp on, wrapped in her favourite hoodie he owned with his scent still lingering on it, the notebook he had given her placed on her lap. She wanted to write again, so badly, she wanted to write a song, remembering how much he loved listening to her sing. She wanted to get her emotions out, but she didn’t know how, not really sure what she was feeling. She was constantly checking her phone, as if a call would come in from him, telling her that it’s all going to be okay, and he’s fine – it never came.

Seven days after she heard the news, she’s standing at his funeral, up front alongside his parents, and his best friend, dressed all in black. She never lets go of Big Red’s hand, gripping on to it like it’s her lifeline. And in that week, he was. The only time she lets go is when he goes up to give a beautiful eulogy, she lets the tears slide down her cheeks as he recalls the silliest of moments that they had shared, and as Big Red embodies their best friend in front of the crowd; how he was the funniest, man to live, made the sad times happier, and how he loved with his whole heart. He looked to Nini as he said the last bit, making sure she knew that the boy laying in the coffin in front of them, loved her with all that he had. She wrapped her arms around the red-head as he reclaimed his spot next to her, no longer able to keep her sobs in.

Nini hung on to Big Red’s arm during the reception, the pair receiving their fair share of condolences. When Mike approaches her, asking to talk to her privately, she agrees following him into the hall where it was quiet. Without a word, he pulls out a box from his pocket, handing it to her, “He would’ve wanted you to have this,” he says.

She gasps, eyes pooling with a new set of tears, she hesitantly takes it from his grasp, gently opening the velvet box. She was presented with a beautiful diamond ring, just like the one she’s always wanted. He was going to propose, he was going to fulfill his promise and replace the ring that rests upon her finger. She wonders how he would’ve done it, what he would’ve said, what their life would’ve been like. Being washed all over again with grief, she had so many things she wanted to ask him, so many things she wanted to say, like how could he leave her this way.

Mike pulls the small girl into his arms, comforting the girl he always thought would be his daughter someday. It was always the plan, but sometimes they don’t always go as designed. He promises that he’ll always be there for her, even though they no longer had the person bonding them together. It was time that he was there, that brought them together, making their bond even stronger. He tells her that his son will always be there for her, looking out for her, loving her, even if she can’t see him, he’s there.

That night, she sat in her bed, just like she always did; dressed in his sweater, notebook in her lap, and her bedside lamp on. She can hear Big Red’s sleep machine lowly humming in the next room over, not wanting to leave Nini’s side, especially tonight of all nights. She stares down at the new ring placed upon her finger, accompanying the promise ring, admiring it, as if she can see his love trapped inside the diamond asking to be let out. She glances up seeing his guitar sitting on the stand just at the foot of her bed, Mike had brought it over earlier that week, thought she might want to have it.

Something compels her to play it, she doesn’t know what, maybe it was the small part of him that lives on in her heart. She settles back in her bed, after grabbing the guitar, she cradles it in her lap, the last little bit of the 22-year old she felt like she could physically hold. She takes in a deep breath trying to calm her overwhelming emotions, she experimentally strums a chord, and then another and another, the single chord slowly turned into a melody, and all of a sudden, she knew exactly what she wanted to sing, what she’s been wanting to say this entire week.

She opens her mouth, letting her heart guide her, letting her emotions take over. She allows all her feelings from the past week be consumed by the music, she sings her love for this man into existence, as if he’s sitting right next to her, listening to her heart break.

Her heart clenches, the reminder that she will never hear his voice again, feel his embrace, look into his eyes and tell him she loves him. She looks down to the two rings he had bought her, then she looks up to the ceiling, looking past the roof, the sky and the universe, speaking straight to the boy she so desperately wanted to hold, “You broke your promise to me. But I promise you, you will forever be the greatest love of my life, and I don’t break my promises,” she whispers, and for the first time in seven days, she finds the courage not just to think, but to utter his name, “I love you forever, Ricky Bowen.”

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you all liked it, no matter how sad the whole thing was xx


End file.
